As Han Li continued to delve deeper underground, the temperature of the surrounding air rapidly increased, becoming increasingly scorching. However, the tunnel also widened, reaching a height of over ten zhang at its highest point.

Han Li followed the Fiery Flame Bird ahead, his gaze occasionally sweeping across the walls of the tunnel.

The walls of this tunnel were quite smooth, with many places showing signs of artificial repair.

"Could it be that Fire Refining Elder..." he speculated in his heart.

From this person's title, it could be seen that he likely cultivated fire-attributed techniques. The abundant fire-attributed aura here made it an ideal place for secluded cultivation.

It was evident that the person who had set up the restrictive spells outside, attempting to conceal things, was likely him as well.

After less than an incense stick's worth of time, the muffled rumbling sounds grew louder and louder, like countless suppressed thunderclaps rolling about.

For some reason, the Fiery Flame Bird suddenly increased its speed by more than twofold.

Seeing this, Han Li naturally sped up to keep pace.

As a result, before they had flown far, Han Li's vision suddenly brightened, and a huge, fiery red world appeared before him. It was a massive underground cavern, thousands of zhang in size.

Above, stalactites hung downwards, red in color, with a layer of flame covering their surface, burning fiercely.

Below was a vast lava lake, above which floated a layer of fiery red mist that resembled burning flames.

The lava within the lake roiled and surged, with huge bubbles occasionally rising to the surface and bursting open, emitting a series of muffled thunder-like sounds.

Fireballs the size of fists emerged from the bubbles and scattered around.

"Fire Essence!" Han Li's eyes lit up.

The entire underground space was filled with fiery red light, as if the void itself was burning. The temperature had reached an incredible level, and even with the strength of Han Li's Xuan Immortal body, he felt a dryness in his mouth and throat.

Gusts of hot wind blew from the lake's surface, causing a faint tingling pain on his skin.

However, upon seeing this scene, the Fiery Flame Bird was exceptionally excited.

The bird flapped its wings and soared, transforming into a silvery-white shadow that circled the entire space. It would occasionally snatch a ball of Fire Essence and swallow it. Sometimes, it would even dive directly into the lava below, disappearing in the blink of an eye, only to then emerge from another location, appearing extremely content.

Seeing this, Han Li's heart stirred.

The abundance of underground fire veins here far exceeded his expectations. No wonder the Fire Refining Elder wanted to conceal this place with restrictive spells.

The Fiery Flame Bird was absorbing fire energy here, and he believed it would soon recover.

However, something still seemed to be missing…

He took a deep breath, his expression returning to calm, and waved his sleeve.

Hundreds of red lights shot out, transforming into red array flags that landed above the lava lake, forming a huge magical formation.

As he chanted incantations and cast out spells, the entire formation slowly began to operate. Each array flag emitted rays of red light, which converged to form a massive, fiery red formation.

The Fiery Flame Bird seemed to understand its master's intentions. It immediately stopped playing around, flapped its wings, and landed in the center of the formation.

In the next moment, the fire energy of the entire underground space seemed to be drawn in, gathering towards the formation. It coiled around the Fiery Flame Bird, layer upon layer, quickly forming a huge, fiery red cocoon.

Han Li's figure rose into the air, and after a flash, he stopped in front of a section of the cavern wall. He flipped his hand, took out a fiery red giant brush, and began to inscribe countless huge runes, forming a flame-shaped pattern.

Then, his figure flickered, appearing in front of another cavern wall. He once again wielded the giant brush and carved out a flame pattern.

Soon, eight flame patterns were inscribed by Han Li's hand, surrounding the giant cocoon in the center.

Only then did Han Li put away the giant brush and begin to chant a spell.

Buzz!

All eight flame patterns emitted a dazzling light, quickly connecting with each other to form another huge formation, enveloping the giant cocoon.

The double formations faintly echoed each other.

Rumble!

The underground space trembled slightly, and even more fire energy surged in, merging into the fiery red cocoon.

At this moment, Han Li could clearly feel that the Fiery Flame Bird inside the cocoon was slowly increasing its strength every moment. Only then did a hint of satisfaction flash in his eyes.

He then patrolled the underground cavern, confirming that the two formations were operating without any issues, before returning the way he had come, back to the outside.

He glanced around, then waved his sleeve, sending out beams of light that landed near the valley. Soon, a huge restriction opened up, covering the entire valley once again.

Having done all this, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

With the problem of the Fiery Flame Bird resolved, Han Li was in a great mood. He did not immediately fly back to the top of the mountain, but instead flew towards the outside of Crimson Dawn Peak.

Now that the area within six hundred thousand miles around Crimson Dawn Peak was his territory in the Candle Dragon Dao, he naturally wanted to take a good look and make some preparations.

After spending half a day, Han Li roughly toured his entire territory, placing sensing formations in various locations to prevent anyone from sneaking in.

Within the entire territory, Crimson Dawn Peak, as the core, was naturally the place where spiritual veins converged, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was the most abundant.

However, in addition to this peak, he also discovered two small spiritual places that were still considered acceptable by the standards of the Northern Cold Immortal Domain, and more than a dozen good mineral veins.

Most of the mineral veins had been mined for the most part, and the two small spiritual places had been developed into patches of spiritual fields, but they had been abandoned for so many years that they had long been desolate.

If it were other True Immortal elders, they would naturally send more servants to mine these spiritual fields and mineral veins, as a long-term source of spirit stone income.

However, Han Li had no interest in this, at least he did not plan to pay attention to it for the time being, and soon flew back to the top of Crimson Dawn Peak.

"Elder Li!" Yun Menggui and the others stood side by side at the entrance of the courtyard, bowing to Han Li as he gracefully landed.

Everywhere on the mountaintop had been cleaned spotlessly, and the pavilions and towers had been renovated.

The bamboo and pine trees seemed to have been washed, and were verdant and dripping with moisture. A group of golden fish had been added to the small bridges and rivers, swimming and frolicking among the green lotus leaves, creating a picturesque scene.

Han Li nodded in satisfaction, arranged for Yun Menggui and the others to live in the rooms around the cave dwelling, and then sent them down to rest.

Han Li checked the cave dwelling, placed some restrictions, and then came to the spiritual herb garden.

Since this herb garden was located outside, he would naturally not plant any truly important spiritual herbs here, but simply leaving it there would arouse suspicion.

Han Li pondered for a moment, then divided the herb garden into several areas and scattered some ordinary spiritual herb seeds here.

He had done these things countless times, and he was already familiar with them.

Before long, a brand new herb garden emerged.

Han Li flipped his hand and took out a jade pot, gently waving it.

A stream of light cyan spiritual liquid shot out from it, falling on the herb garden.

Then, he waved his hand, and a crisp green light shot out from his hand, covering the entire spiritual herb garden.

Specks of green sprouts emerged from everywhere underground, emitting a tender green vitality.

A smile appeared on Han Li's face, and then he turned around, walked through the courtyard, and went straight to the cave dwelling on the mountainside. He waved his sleeve and opened the cave door, walking in with his head held high.

The cave dwelling did not look anything special from the outside, but inside it was a completely different world. At first glance, there were a dozen rooms, alchemy rooms, weapon refining rooms, and everything else one could want, which saved him a lot of effort.

Compared to the courtyard in front, Han Li naturally preferred the environment here. Perhaps the previous owner of the cave dwelling thought so too.

After pondering slightly, he began to act, modifying the place a bit. He turned the most hidden stone room into a small medicine garden, and opened a stone room near the mountainside, and punched countless small holes in the wall so that the starlight and moonlight could shine into the room in the future, so that the Palm Heaven Bottle could absorb it.

After arranging everything inside the cave dwelling, Han Li walked out of the cave dwelling again, planning to place a few more layers of restrictions on the outermost periphery.

As a result, just as he was about to cast a spell, his body suddenly stiffened, and he turned around to look at the spiritual herb garden next to the courtyard.

In the herb garden, most of the spiritual herbs that had just sprouted had withered, and only a few were still alive.

"What's going on?"

Han Li's face sank, and he quickly walked over, pulling out a withered spirit grass.

Its seed roots were completely withered, showing a dark black color, as if it had been burned by fire.

He pulled out several other spirit grasses, and the situation was the same, but there were also several kinds of spirit grasses in the herb garden that were growing well, full of vitality, and there was no sign of withering.

Han Li immediately released his divine sense, and before long, he found the reason that might have caused this situation.

Because the underground fire veins had not been controlled for many years, their abundant fire spiritual power gradually penetrated upwards. The soil of the entire Crimson Dawn Peak contained a strong fire-attribute spiritual power.

This kind of environment is very suitable for the growth of fire-attribute spirit grass, but if you want to plant other attributes of spirit grass in this herb garden, you can't survive.

Han Li looked at the few spirit grasses in the herb garden that were growing well, all of which were fire-attributed.

His brows furrowed slightly. Crimson Dawn Peak actually had this trouble.

No wonder no one cared about this Crimson Dawn Peak. When he chose this place, Yu Xiansheng and Qi Liang had strange expressions on their faces.

Han Li pondered slightly, and his brows quickly relaxed.

Although the current situation seems a bit troublesome, it is not impossible to solve. There are still many ways to isolate the influence of underground spiritual veins. Just set up some restrictions and formations that can isolate the effect.

Although in this way, the spirit grass's absorption of the earth's spiritual energy will be affected, he is not too worried, after all, he uses the green liquid born in the Palm Heaven Bottle to ripen it, and there is not much requirement for the earth's spiritual energy.

As for the spirit herb garden next to the yard, it is for the purpose of concealing people's eyes, so it is just to plant some fire-attribute spirit grass directly.

With this thought in mind, he no longer thought too much and busied himself again.